Method for decoding chroma image using luma quantization

ABSTRACT

A method for decoding chroma image can include deriving a chroma intra prediction mode of a prediction unit using a corresponding luma intra prediction mode; determining a size of a current chroma block using luma transform size information; generating a chroma prediction block of the current chroma block; generating a chroma residual block of the current chroma block using the chroma intra prediction mode and a chroma quantization parameter; and generating a chroma reconstructed block adding the chroma prediction block and the chroma residual block, in which the chroma quantization parameter is generated using a luma quantization parameter determined per quantization unit and information indicating the relationship between the luma quantization parameter and the chroma quantization parameter, the size of the quantization unit is one of allowable sizes of a coding unit, and a minimum size of the quantization unit is determined per picture and a parameter for specifying the minimum size of the quantization unit is included in a picture parameter set.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/884,062 filed on Jan. 30, 2018, which is a Continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/231,274 filed on Aug. 8, 2016 (now. U.S.Pat. No. 9,918,097 issued on Mar. 13, 2018), which is a Continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/570,200 filed on Dec. 15, 2014 (nowU.S. Pat. No. 9,445,100 issued on Sep. 13, 2016), which is aContinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/354,518 filed onApr. 25, 2014 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,942,284 issued on Jan. 27, 2015),which is filed as the National Phase of PCT/CN2012/084374 filed on Nov.9, 2012, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to KoreanPatent Application No. 10-2011-0124580 filed on Nov. 25, 2011, all ofthese applications are hereby expressly incorporated by reference intothe present application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method for decoding chroma image, andmore particularly, to a method and apparatus of generating a chromaprediction block and a chroma residual block according to a chroma intraprediction mode and a size of a transform unit.

Discussion of the Related Art

In H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, one picture is divided into macroblocks to encodean image, the respective macroblocks are encoded by generating aprediction block using inter prediction or intra prediction. Thedifference between an original block and the prediction block istransformed to generate a transformed block, and the transformed blockis quantized using a quantization parameter and one of a plurality ofpredetermined quantization matrices. The quantized coefficient of thequantized block are scanned by a predetermined scan type and thenentropy-coded. The quantization parameter is adjusted per macroblock andencoded using a previous quantization parameter.

Meanwhile, in HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) under construction,various sizes of coding unit are introduced to obtain two times ofcompression efficiency. The coding unit has a role similar to themacroblock of H.264.

But, if the luma and chroma quantization parameter is adjusted percoding unit, the number of quantization parameters to be encodedincreases as the size of the coding unit is smaller. Therefore,adjusting luma and chroma quantization parameter per coding unit resultsin greater quantity of coding bits required to encode the quantizationparameter, which degrades the coding efficiency. Also, because usingvarious sizes of coding unit makes the correlation between thequantization parameter and the previous quantization parameter weakerthan that of H.264, a new method of encoding and decoding thequantization parameter is required for various sizes of the coding unit.Accordingly, more effective method is required to encode and decode theimage for luma and chroma component.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a method for generating a chromaprediction block and a chroma residual block to generate a chromareconstructed block.

One aspect of the present invention provides a method for decodingchroma image, comprising: deriving a chroma intra prediction mode of aprediction unit; determining a size of a current chroma block using lumatransform size information; generating a chroma prediction block of thecurrent chroma block using the chroma intra prediction mode; generatinga chroma residual block of the current chroma block using the chromaintra prediction mode and a chroma quantization parameter; andgenerating a chroma reconstructed block adding the chroma predictionblock and the chroma residual block.

A method according to the present invention derives a chroma intraprediction mode of a prediction unit, determines a size of a currentchroma block using luma transform size information, generates a chromaprediction block of the current chroma block using the chroma intraprediction mode, generates a chroma residual block of the current chromablock using the chroma intra prediction mode and a chroma quantizationparameter, generates a chroma reconstructed block adding the chromaprediction block and the chroma residual block, and the chromaquantization parameter is generated using a luma quantization parameterand information indicating the relationship between the lumaquantization parameter and the chroma quantization parameter. Therefore,the coding efficiency is improved by adjusting the chroma quantizationparameter per picture. Also, the amount of bits for transmitting theluma and chroma quantization parameters is reduced by encoding the lumaquantization parameter using neighboring luma quantization parameters.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image coding apparatus according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an image decoding apparatus according tothe present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an apparatus of generating a predictionblock according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating intra prediction modesaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an apparatus of generating a residual blockaccording to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.However, the present invention is not limited to the exemplaryembodiments disclosed below, but can be implemented in various types.Therefore, many other modifications and variations of the presentinvention are possible, and it is to be understood that within the scopeof the disclosed concept, the present invention may be practicedotherwise than as has been specifically described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image coding apparatus 100 according tothe present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the image coding apparatus 100 according to thepresent invention includes a picture division unit 110, an intraprediction unit 120, an inter prediction unit 130, a transform unit 140,a quantization unit 150, a scanning unit 160, an entropy coding unit170, an inverse quantization unit 155, an inverse transform unit 145, apost-processing unit 180, a picture storing unit 190, a subtractor 192and an adder 194.

The picture division unit 110 divides a picture into slices, divides aslice into largest coding units (LCUs), and divides each LCU into one ormore coding units. The picture division unit 110 determines predictionmode of each coding unit and a size of prediction unit. The picture,slice and coding unit are comprised of luminance sample array (lumaarray) and two chrominance sample arrays (chroma arrays). A chroma blockhas half the height and half the width of a luma block. The block may bea LCU, coding unit or a prediction unit. Hereafter, a luma coding unit,a luma prediction unit and a luma transform unit is referred to as acoding unit, a prediction unit and a transform unit respectively.

An LCU includes one or more coding units. The LCU has a recursive quadtree structure to specify a division structure of coding units.Parameters for specifying the maximum size and the minimum size of thecoding unit are included in a sequence parameter set. The divisionstructure is specified by one or more split coding unit flags(split_cu_flags). The size of a coding unit is 2N×2N.

A coding unit includes one or more prediction units. In intraprediction, the size of the prediction unit is 2N×2N or N×N. In interprediction, the size of the prediction unit is 2N×2N, 2N×N, N×2N or N×N.

A coding unit includes one or more transform units. The transform unithas a recursive quad tree structure to specify a division structure. Thedivision structure is specified by one or more split transform unitflags (split_tu_flags). Parameter for specifying the maximum size andthe minimum size of the luma transform unit is included in a sequenceparameter set. The chroma transform unit has half the height and halfthe width of the transform unit if the transform unit is not 4×4. Theminimum size of the chroma transform unit is 4×4.

The intra prediction unit 120 determines an intra prediction mode of acurrent prediction unit and generates a prediction block using the intraprediction mode. A size of the prediction block is equal to a size ofthe transform unit.

The inter prediction unit 130 determines motion information of thecurrent prediction unit using one or more reference pictures stored inthe picture storing unit 190, and generates a prediction block of theprediction unit. The motion information includes one or more referencepicture indexes and one or more motion vectors.

The transform unit 140 transforms residual signals generated using anoriginal block and a prediction block to generate a transformed block.The residual signals are transformed by the transform unit. A transformtype is determined by the prediction mode and the size of the transformunit. The transform type is a DCT-based integer transform or a DST-basedinteger transform. Inter prediction, DCT-based integer transforms areused. In intra prediction mode, if the size of the transform unit issmaller than a predetermined size, the DST-based integer transforms areused, otherwise the DCT-based integer transforms are used. Thepredetermined size is 8×8. The transform type for the chroma transformunit is the DCT-based integer transform.

The quantization unit 150 determines a quantization parameter forquantizing the transformed block. The quantization parameter is aquantization step size. The quantization parameter is the lumaquantization parameter. The quantization parameter is determined perquantization unit. The size of the quantization unit is one of allowablesizes of coding unit. If a size of the coding unit is equal to or largerthan the size of a minimum quantization unit, the coding unit becomesthe quantization unit. A plurality of coding units may be included inthe minimum quantization unit. The size of the minimum quantization unitis determined per picture and a parameter for specifying the size of theminimum quantization unit is included in a picture parameter set. Achroma quantization parameter for each chroma component is determined bythe quantization parameter. The relationship between the quantizationparameter and the chroma quantization parameter may be determined by thepicture. A parameter (chroma_qp_index_offset) for indicating therelationship is transmitted in a picture parameter set (PPS). Therelationship may be changed by the slice. Another parameter for changingthe relationship may be transmitted in a slice header.

The quantization unit 150 generates a quantization parameter predictorand generates a differential quantization parameter by subtracting thequantization parameter predictor from the quantization parameter. Thedifferential quantization parameter is entropy-coded.

The quantization parameter predictor is generated by using quantizationparameters of neighboring coding units and quantization parameter ofprevious coding unit as follows.

A left quantization parameter, an above quantization parameter and aprevious quantization parameter are sequentially retrieved in thisorder. An average of the first two available quantization parametersretrieved in that order is set as the quantization parameter predictorwhen two or more quantization parameters are available, and when onlyone quantization parameter is available, the available quantizationparameter is set as the quantization parameter predictor. That is, ifthe left and above quantization parameter are available, the average ofthe left and above quantization parameter is set as the quantizationparameter predictor. If only one of the left and above quantizationparameter is available, the average of the available quantizationparameter and the previous quantization parameter is set as thequantization parameter predictor. If both of the left and abovequantization parameter are unavailable, the previous quantizationparameter is set as the quantization parameter predictor. The average isrounded off.

The quantization unit 150 quantizes the transformed block using aquantization matrix and the quantization parameter to generate aquantized block. The quantized block is provided to the inversequantization unit 155 and the scanning unit 160.

The scanning unit 160 determines a scan pattern and applies the scanpattern to the quantized block. When CABAC is used for entropy coding,the scan pattern is determined as follows.

In intra prediction, the scan pattern is determined by the intraprediction mode and the size of the transform unit. The size of thetransform unit, the size of transformed block and the size of thequantized block are same. The scan pattern is selected among a diagonalscan, vertical scan and horizontal scan. The quantized transformcoefficients of the quantized block are split into significant flags,coefficient signs and coefficient levels. The scan pattern is applied tothe significant flags, coefficient signs and coefficient levelsrespectively. The significant flag indicates whether the correspondingquantized transform coefficient is zero or not. The coefficient signindicates a sign of non-zero quantized transform coefficient, and thecoefficients level indicates an absolute value of non-zero quantizedtransform coefficient.

When the size of the transform unit is equal to or smaller than a firstsize, the horizontal scan is selected for the vertical mode and apredetermined number of neighboring intra prediction modes of thevertical mode in directionality, the vertical scan is selected for thehorizontal mode and the predetermined number of neighboring intraprediction modes of the horizontal mode in directionality, and thediagonal scan is selected for the other intra prediction modes. When thesize of the transform unit is larger than the first size, the diagonalscan is used. The first size is 8×8.

In inter prediction, a predetermined scan pattern is used regardless ofthe size of the transform unit. The predetermined scan pattern is thediagonal scan when the CABAC is used for entropy coding.

The scan pattern of a chroma transform unit is equal to the scan patternof a corresponding luma transform unit. The minimum size of the chromatransform unit is 4×4.

When the size of the transform unit is larger than a second size, thequantized block is divided into a main subset and a plurality ofremaining subsets and the determined scan pattern is applied to eachsubset. Significant flags, coefficient signs and coefficients levels ofeach subset are scanned respectively according to the determined scanpattern. The main subset includes DC coefficient and the remainingsubsets covers the region other than the region covered by the mainsubset. The second size is 4×4. The subset is a 4×4 block containing 16transform coefficients. The subset for chroma is also a 4×4 blockcontaining 16 transform coefficients.

The scan pattern for scanning the subsets is the same as the scanpattern for scanning quantized transform coefficients of each subset.The quantized transform coefficients of each subset are scanned in thereverse direction. The subsets are also scanned in the reversedirection.

Last non-zero coefficient position is encoded and transmitted to thedecoder. The last non-zero coefficient position specifies a position oflast non-zero quantized transform coefficient within the transform unit.The last non-zero coefficient position is used to determine the numberof subsets to be signaled in the decoder. Non-zero subset flag is setfor the subsets other than the main subset and the last subset. The lastsubset covers the last non-zero coefficient. The non-zero subset flagindicates whether the subset contains non-zero coefficients or not.

The inverse quantization unit 155 inversely quantizes the quantizedtransform coefficients of the quantized block.

The inverse transform unit 145 inversely transforms the inversequantized block to generate residual signals of the spatial domain.

The adder 194 generates a reconstructed block by adding the residualblock and the prediction block.

The post-processing unit 180 performs a deblocking filtering process forremoving blocking artifact generated in a reconstructed picture.

The picture storing unit 190 receives post-processed image from thepost-processing unit 180, and stores the image in picture units. Apicture may be a frame or a field.

The entropy coding unit 170 entropy-codes the one-dimensionalcoefficient information received from the scanning unit 160, intraprediction information received from the intra prediction unit 120,motion information received from the inter prediction unit 130, and soon.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an image decoding apparatus 200 accordingto the present invention.

The image decoding apparatus 200 according to the present inventionincludes an entropy decoding unit 210, an inverse scanning unit 220, aninverse quantization unit 230, an inverse transform unit 240, an intraprediction unit 250, an inter prediction unit 260, a post-processingunit 270, a picture storing unit 280, an adder 290 and a switch 295.

The entropy decoding unit 210 extracts the intra prediction information,the inter prediction information and the one-dimensional coefficientinformation from a received bit stream. The entropy decoding unit 210transmits the inter prediction information to the inter prediction unit260, the intra prediction information to the intra prediction unit 250and the coefficient information to the inverse scanning unit 220.

The inverse scanning unit 220 uses an inverse scan pattern to generatequantized block. When CABAC is used for entropy coding, the scan patternis determined as follows.

In intra prediction, the inverse scan pattern is determined by the intraprediction mode and the size of the transform unit. The inverse scanpattern is selected among a diagonal scan, vertical scan and horizontalscan. The selected inverse scan pattern is applied to significant flags,coefficient signs and coefficients levels respectively to generate thequantized block. The inverse scan pattern of the chroma transform unitis equal to the scan pattern of a corresponding luma transform unit. Theminimum size of the chroma transform unit is 4×4.

When the size of the transform unit is equal to or smaller than a firstsize, the horizontal scan is selected for the vertical mode and apredetermined number of neighboring intra prediction modes of thevertical mode, the vertical scan is selected for the horizontal mode andthe predetermined number of neighboring intra prediction modes of thehorizontal mode, and the diagonal scan is selected for the other intraprediction modes. When the size of the transform unit is larger than thefirst size, the diagonal scan is used. When the size of the transformunit is larger than the first size, the diagonal scan is selected forall intra prediction modes. The first size is 8×8.

In inter prediction, the diagonal scan is used.

When the size of the transform unit is larger than the second size, thesignificant flags, the coefficient signs and the coefficients levels areinversely scanned in the unit of subset using the determined inversescan pattern to generate subsets, and the subsets are inversely scannedto generate the quantized block. The second size is equal to the size ofthe subset. The subset is a 4×4 block including 16 transformcoefficients. The subset for chroma is also a 4×4 block. Therefore, whenthe size of the chroma transform unit is larger than the second size,the subsets are generated first and the subsets are inversely scanned.

The inverse scan pattern used for generating each subset is the same asthe inverse scan pattern used for generating the quantized block. Thesignificant flags, the coefficient signs and the coefficient levels areinversely scanned in the reverse direction. The subsets are alsoinversely scanned in the reverse direction.

The last non-zero coefficient position and the non-zero subset flags arereceived from the encoder. The number of encoded subsets is determinedaccording to the last non-zero coefficient position and the inverse scanpattern. The non-zero subset flags are used to select subsets to begenerated. The main subset and the last subset are generated using theinverse scan pattern.

The inverse quantization unit 230 receives the differential quantizationparameter from the entropy decoding unit 210 and generates thequantization parameter predictor to generate the quantization parameterof the coding unit. The operation of generating the quantizationparameter is the same as the operation of the quantization unit 150 ofFIG. 1. Then, the quantization parameter of the current coding unit isgenerated by adding the differential quantization parameter and thequantization parameter predictor. If the differential quantizationparameter for the current coding unit is not received from the encoder,the differential quantization parameter is set to 0.

A parameter for indicating the relationship between the quantizationparameter and the chroma quantization parameter is included in the PPS.Another parameter is included in the slice header if it is allowed tochange the relationship by the slice. Therefore, the chroma quantizationparameter is generated using the quantization parameter and theparameter included in the PPS or using the quantization parameter andthe two parameters.

The inverse quantization unit 230 inversely quantizes the quantizedblock.

The inverse transform unit 240 inversely transforms theinverse-quantized block to restore a residual block. The inversetransform type is adaptively determined according to the prediction modeand the size of the transform unit. The inverse transform type is theDCT-based integer transform or the DST-based integer transform. Forexample, in inter prediction, DCT-based integer transforms are used. Inintra prediction mode, if the size of the transform unit is smaller thana predetermined size, the DST-based integer transforms are used,otherwise the DCT-based integer transforms are used. The inversetransform type for the chroma transform unit is the DCT-based integertransform.

The intra prediction unit 250 restores the intra prediction mode of thecurrent prediction unit using the received intra prediction information,and generates a prediction block according to the restored intraprediction mode.

The inter prediction unit 260 restores the motion information of thecurrent prediction unit using the received inter prediction information,and generates a prediction block using the motion information.

The post-processing unit 270 operates the same as the post-processingunit 180 of FIG. 1.

The picture storing unit 280 receives post-processed image from thepost-processing unit 270, and stores the image in picture units. Apicture may be a frame or a field.

The adder 290 adds the restored residual block and a prediction block togenerate a reconstructed block.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure of generating a chromaprediction block in intra prediction mode according to the presentinvention.

A chroma intra prediction mode of a chroma prediction unit is derivedusing an intra prediction index (S110). The chroma intra prediction modegroup includes a DC mode, a planar mode, a vertical mode, a horizontalmode, a LM mode and a DM mode. The DM mode is set to a luma intraprediction mode of corresponding luma prediction unit. If the luma intraprediction mode is one of the DC mode, the planar mode, the verticalmode, the horizontal mode and the LM mode, the mode is replaced with avertical right mode. The chroma prediction unit has half the width andhalf the height of the luma prediction unit.

A size of a current chroma block is determined to generated a chromaprediction block based on the transform size information specifying thesize of the luma transform unit (S120).

The transform size information may be one or more split_tu_flags.Therefore, the current chroma block has the same size of the chromatransform unit. The minimum size of the chroma prediction block is 4×4.The chroma transform unit has half the width and height of thecorresponding luma transform unit.

If the chroma transform unit has the same size of the prediction unit,the prediction unit is set as the current block.

If the size of the chroma transform unit is smaller than the size of thechroma prediction unit, the prediction unit is comprised of multiplesub-blocks of the prediction unit having the same size of the transformunit. Each sub-block is set as the current chroma block. In this case,the steps S130 and S140 are performed for the first sub-block of theprediction unit. Then, the steps S130 and S140 are repeatedly performedfor the remaining sub-blocks of the chroma prediction unit in decodingorder. Same chroma intra prediction mode is used for all the sub-blockwithin the chroma prediction unit.

Reference pixels are generated if one or more reference pixels of thecurrent chroma block are unavailable (S130). The reference pixels of thecurrent chroma block are comprised of above reference pixels located at(x=0, . . . , 2N−1, y=−1), left reference pixels located at (x=1−, y=0,. . . , 2M−1) and a corner pixel located at (x=−1, y=−1). N is the widthof the current chroma block and M is the height of the current chromablock. The current chroma block may be the prediction unit or thesub-block of the prediction.

If all reference pixels are unavailable, the value of 2^(L-1) issubstituted for the values of all the reference pixels. The value of Lis the number of bits used to represent luminance pixel value.

If available reference pixels are located at only one side of theunavailable reference pixel, the value of the reference pixel nearest tothe unavailable pixel is substituted for the unavailable referencepixel.

If available reference pixels are located at both sides of theunavailable reference pixel, the average value of the reference pixelsnearest to the unavailable pixel in each side or the value of thereference pixel nearest to the unavailable pixel in a predetermineddirection is substituted for each unavailable reference pixel.

The reference pixels of the current chroma block are not filteredregardless of the chroma intra prediction mode and the size of thechroma transform unit.

A prediction block of the current chroma block is generated (S140).

The prediction block is generated using the chroma intra predictionmode. The prediction block is generated through the same operation ofgenerating luma prediction block for DC mode, planar mode, vertical modeand horizontal mode.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure of generating a chromaresidual block according to the present invention.

The encoded residual signals are entropy-decoded to generate quantizedcoefficient information (S210). When CABAC is used for entropy coding,the coefficients information includes significant flags, coefficientsigns and coefficient levels. The significant flag indicates whether thecorresponding quantized transform coefficient is zero or not. Thecoefficient sign indicates a sign of non-zero quantized transformcoefficient, and the coefficients level indicates an absolute value ofnon-zero quantized transform coefficient.

An inverse scan pattern is determined and a quantized block is generatedaccording the inverse scan pattern (S220).

In intra prediction, the inverse scan pattern is determined by thechroma intra prediction mode and the size of the chroma transform unit.The inverse scan pattern is selected among a diagonal scan, verticalscan and horizontal scan. The selected inverse scan pattern is appliedto significant flags, coefficient signs and coefficients levelsrespectively to generate the quantized block. The inverse scan patternof the chroma transform unit is equal to the scan pattern of acorresponding luma transform unit. The minimum size of the chromatransform unit is 4×4.

Therefore, when the size of the chroma transform unit is equal to 4×4,the horizontal scan is selected for the vertical mode and apredetermined number of neighboring intra prediction modes of thevertical mode, the vertical scan is selected for the horizontal mode andthe predetermined number of neighboring intra prediction modes of thehorizontal mode, and the diagonal scan is selected for the other intraprediction modes. When the size of the transform unit is larger than4×4, the diagonal scan is used.

In inter prediction, the diagonal scan is used.

When the size of the chroma transform unit is larger than the secondsize, the significant flags, the coefficient signs and the coefficientslevels are inversely scanned in the unit of subset using the determinedinverse scan pattern to generate subsets, and the subsets are inverselyscanned to generate the quantized block. The second size is equal to thesize of the subset. The subset is a 4×4 block including 16 transformcoefficients.

The inverse scan pattern used for generating each subset is the same asthe inverse scan pattern used for generating the quantized block. Thesignificant flags, the coefficient signs and the coefficient levels areinversely scanned in the reverse direction. The subsets are alsoinversely scanned in the reverse direction.

The last non-zero coefficient position and the non-zero subset flags arereceived from the encoder. The number of encoded subsets is determinedaccording to the last non-zero coefficient position and the inverse scanpattern. The non-zero subset flags are used to select subsets to begenerated. The main subset and the last subset are generated using theinverse scan pattern.

The quantized block is inversely quantized using a chroma quantizationparameter (S230). The chroma quantization parameter for each chromacomponent is derived from luma quantization parameter. The parameter(chroma_qp_index_offset) for indicating the relationship between theluma quantization parameter and the chroma quantization parameter isextracted from the PPS. Another parameter is also extracted from theslice header if the relationship is changed per slice. Therefore, theluma quantization parameter is generated and the parameter forindicating the relationship is extracted from the received bit stream.Then, the chroma quantization parameter is generated using the lumaquantization parameter and the parameters.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure of deriving lumaquantization parameter according to the present invention.

A minimum size of a quantization unit is derived (S231). The minimumsize of the quantization unit is equal to a size of LCU or a size ofsub-block of LCU. The minimum size of the quantization unit isdetermined per picture. A parameter (cu_qp_delta_enabled_info)specifying the depth of the minimum size of the quantization unit isextracted from PPS. The minimum size of the quantization unit is derivedas following equation:

Log 2(MinQUSize)=Log 2(MaxCUSize)−cu_qp_delta_enabled_info

The MinQUSize is the minimum size of the quantization unit. TheMaxCUSize is the size of LCU. Only one parameter is used for derivingthe minimum size of the quantization unit.

A differential luma quantization parameter (dQP) of the current codingunit is restored (S232). The dQP is restored per quantization unit. Forexample, if the size of the current coding unit is equal to or largerthan the minimum size of the quantization unit, the dQP is restored forthe current coding unit. If the current coding unit does not contain anencoded dQP, the dQP is set to zero. If the quantization unit includesplural coding units, a first coding unit containing the dQP and thefollowing coding unit within the quantization unit have same dQP.

The encoded dQP is arithmetically decoded to generate a bin string, andthe bin string is converted into the dQP. The bin string comprises a binfor indicating the dQP is zero or not. When the dQP is not zero, the binstring further comprises a bin for sign of the dQP, and a bin string forindicating absolute value of the dQP.

A luma quantization parameter predictor of the current coding unit isgenerated (S233).

The luma quantization parameter predictor is generated by using lumaquantization parameters of neighboring coding units and a lumaquantization parameter of previous coding unit as follows.

A left luma quantization parameter, an above luma quantization parameterand a previous luma quantization parameter are sequentially retrieved inthis order. An average of the first two available luma quantizationparameters retrieved in that order is set as the luma quantizationparameter predictor when two or more luma quantization parameters areavailable, and when only one luma quantization parameter is available,the available luma quantization parameter is set as the lumaquantization parameter predictor. That is, if the left and above lumaquantization parameter are available, the average of the left and aboveluma quantization parameter is set as the luma quantization parameterpredictor. If only one of the left and above luma quantization parameteris available, the average of the available luma quantization parameterand the previous luma quantization parameter is set as the lumaquantization parameter predictor. If both of the left and above lumaquantization parameter are unavailable, the previous luma quantizationparameter is set as the luma quantization parameter predictor. Theaverage is rounded off.

If the quantization unit includes plural coding units, the lumaquantization parameter predictor of the first coding unit in thedecoding order is generated, and the generated luma quantizationparameter predictor is used for all the coding units within thequantization unit.

The luma quantization parameter is generated using the dQP and the lumaquantization parameter predictor (S234).

Meanwhile, the user-defined quantization matrices are also restored. Aset of the user-defined quantization matrices is received from theencoding apparatus through the SPS or the PPS. The user-definedquantization matrix is restored using inverse DPCM. The diagonal scan isused for the DPCM. When the size of the user-defined quantization matrixis larger than 8×8, the user-defined quantization matrix is restored byup-sampling the coefficients of the received 8×8 quantization matrix.The DC coefficient of the user-defined quantization matrix is extractedfrom the SPS or the PPS. For example, if the size of the user-definedquantization matrix is 16×16, coefficients of the received 8×8quantization matrix are up-sampled using 1:4 up-sampling.

A residual block is generated by inversely transforming theinverse-quantized block (S1440). An inverse transform type may be fixed.The DCT-based integer transform is used for a horizontal transform and avertical transform.

A reconstructed chroma block is generated by adding the chromaprediction block and the chroma residual block.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference tocertain exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for decoding chroma image, comprising:deriving a chroma intra prediction mode of a prediction unit using acorresponding luma intra prediction mode; determining a size of acurrent chroma block using luma transform size information; generating achroma prediction block of the current chroma block; generating a chromaresidual block of the current chroma block using the chroma intraprediction mode and a chroma quantization parameter; and generating achroma reconstructed block adding the chroma prediction block and thechroma residual block, wherein the chroma quantization parameter isgenerated using a luma quantization parameter determined perquantization unit and information indicating the relationship betweenthe luma quantization parameter and the chroma quantization parameter,wherein the size of the quantization unit is one of allowable sizes of acoding unit, wherein a minimum size of the quantization unit isdetermined per picture and a parameter for specifying the minimum sizeof the quantization unit is included in a picture parameter set, whereinif a size of the coding unit is equal to or larger than the minimum sizeof the quantization unit, the coding unit becomes the quantization unit,wherein the information indicating the relationship between the lumaquantization parameter and the chroma quantization parameter is signaledat the picture parameter set or a slice header, wherein the lumaquantization parameter is generated using a luma quantization parameterpredictor and a luma differential quantization parameter, the lumaquantization parameter predictor is generated using two quantizationparameters if at least two of a left luma quantization parameter, anabove luma quantization parameter and a previous luma quantizationparameter are available, wherein the two quantization parameters usedfor generating the luma quantization parameter predictor are determinedin a order of the left luma quantization parameter, the above lumaquantization parameter and the previous luma quantization parameter,wherein if both of the left luma quantization parameter and the aboveluma quantization parameter are available, an average of the left lumaquantization parameter and the above luma quantization parameter is setas the luma quantization parameter predictor, wherein if only one of theleft luma quantization parameter and the above luma quantizationparameter is available, an average of the available luma quantizationparameter and the previous luma quantization parameter is set as theluma quantization parameter predictor, and wherein if both of the leftluma quantization parameter and the above luma quantization parameterare not available, the previous luma quantization parameter is set asthe luma quantization parameter predictor.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the differential luma quantization parameter is restored byarithmetic-decoding an encoded differential luma quantization parameterto generate a bin string and by applying inverse binarization to the binstring,
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the bin string includes a binstring indicating an absolute value of the differential lumaquantization parameter and a bin indicating a sign of the differentialluma quantization parameter.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein theminimum size of the quantization unit is adjusted per picture.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, wherein the minimum size of the quantization unit isderived using a parameter specifying the depth of the minimum size ofthe quantization unit and the size of the largest coding unit.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, wherein a luma prediction block is generated usingthe luma intra prediction mode and luma reference pixels, and the chromaprediction block is generated using the chroma intra prediction mode andchroma reference pixels, and wherein reference pixels are not filteredfor the current chroma block which has half the height and half thewidth of a current luma block.